frozenfandomcom-20200223-history
Duke of Weselton
|image =Duke_of_Weselton.jpg |films =''Frozen'' |shows = |games = |rides = |actor = |actress = |voice =Alan Tudyk |animator = |model = |designer = |inspiration = |awards = |fullname =The Duke of Weselton |alias =The Duke of Weaseltown, The Little Dipper |personality =Pompous, selfish, snide, cowardly, paranoid, greedy, comical |appearance = |birthday = |occupation =The Duke of Weselton |alliance =Bad/Neutral |goal =To exploit Arendelle's riches and to end the eternal winter |home =Weselton |family = |pets = |friends =The Dignitaries, Anna (formerly) |minions =His two thugs |enemies =Elsa, Hans |likes =Vast riches and wealth, being in control, being trading partners with Arendelle, his own dance skills |dislikes =Witchcraft and the unknown, Not being trading partners with Aredelle, the eternal winter, the idea of treason, and Weselton being pronounced as, "Weaselton" |powers = |weapons = |fate =He and his thugs are sent back to Weselton with a proclamation that Arendelle will forever no longer do business with him in the trade |quote ="Ah Arendelle! Open those gates so I might exploit your riches!" "Did I say that out loud?" "If we don't do something soon, we'll all freeze to death!" "The queen has cursed this land!" "Like a chicken with the face of a monkey, I fly!" }} The Duke of Weselton is the secondary antagonist of Disney's 2013 animated film Frozen. He is voiced by Alan Tudyk. Background The Duke of Weselton is a dignitary from Arendelle's neighboring kingdom Weselton, commonly mispronounced as Weasel Town (although if one is fluent in German language and pronunciation, it would be pronounced as VAY-zel-tun). His title proves he holds great power in his homeland, and on his formal wear, one will notice several badges and medals, indicating a history of significant accomplishment despite his rather meek character. He may also be the most powerful figure in Weselton aside from the ruler itself, though they're never mentioned or even alluded to. The Duke also has two burly bodyguards at his disposal, though they rarely speak and usually stand by the diminutive royal's side to protect from any and all harm. Even so, they do find their boss' character rather odd, considering their facial expressions during their introduction on Elsa's coronation day. In relation to Arendelle, the Duke of Weselton controls the trading business between the two kingdoms, and notes that he's Arendelle's closest partner in trade. He's likely the closest visiting dignitary in the kingdom during Queen Elsa's coronation judging by his prominence throughout the events of the film. How long he's been associated with the kingdom and whether or not he knew the original king and queen before their deaths is unknown but highly likely. Official Disney Bio "What the Duke of Weselton lacks in stature, he makes up for in arrogance and showboating. He’s determined to get close to the new queen—that is, until Elsa’s magical secret is revealed. Then he’s the first to call her a monster and try to turn her own kingdom against her—anything that might help him exploit Arendelle’s tradable goods." Personality Contrary to popular belief prior to the movie's release, the Duke of Weselton is in no way heartless or evil. He is, however, heavily pompous and greedy, though it's portrayed in a humorous manner throughout the film. Though invited to Arendelle for the coronation of Queen Elsa, the Duke was far more interested in exploiting Arendelle's tradable goods, as he's the representative of Weselton, Arendelle's former trade partner. He's also extremely interested in Arendelle's history, wanting to know why the castle gates were locked for so many years, and why castle grounds were off limits to outsiders, showing a nosy side of the dignitary. The Duke's most striking trait is his cowardliness and irrational attitude. Whenever even the slightest oddity occurs, he'll go into a panic, relying on his bodyguard brutes to protect him. He also has a hatred of magic and "sorcery", reason being he finds it to be highly dangerous, explaining why he was so hostile towards Elsa after her powers were revealed at the coronation ball. His fear of magic and the mysterious power it holds is what leads him to perform his only immoral act, which was ordering his thugs to find and kill Elsa, hoping her death would result in the eternal winter curse she accidentally caused to be lifted. However, despite his flaws, the Duke does have a heart to some degree. He's shown to care for the safety of others, besides himself, as seen when the dastardly Prince Hans claimed Princess Anna was killed by Elsa, the Duke finding the news to be immensely shocking, especially considering the princesses' family ties. This can also be seen again during the chase sequence at the coronation party, where the Duke held a distraught expression as Elsa ran into the crowds in the castle courtyard, likely showing concern for the vulnerable denizens. Role in Film Arriving in Arendelle The Duke of Weselton is first seen with his bodyguards entering Arendelle and nearing the castle gates. The greedy royal proves to be extremely excited, deeming Arendelle his most mysterious trade partner, and that he greatly looks forward to unlocking its secrets and exploiting its riches. Along with the other dignitaries, the Duke attends Elsa's crowning coronation as well as the ball thrown in honor of her first night as queen. Anna and Elsa's majordomo, Kai, introduces the snooty duke, which is when the short royal offers Elsa her first dance as queen, claiming he should have the honor being their closest partner in trade. Elsa rejects the offer politely, but volunteers Anna, to which the Duke agrees to nonetheless. Though he believes otherwise, he's a terrible dancer, constantly stepping on Anna's toes and making a complete fool out of himself. The entire event was merely a chance to become closer to the two princesses, hoping a close relationship would further enhance his trading business with Arendelle. In the middle of his routine, he questions the princess as to why the castle gates were closed for so many years, to which she nervously claims ignorance. Sorcery Not too long after the comedic scene, Anna and Elsa get into an argument, and the drama causes Elsa's secret power over ice and snow to be revealed. The fearful Duke calls her out, claiming it to be dark magic, sorcery, and orders his men to capture her the moment she flees, though he and his goons were nearly killed by an accidental blast caused by the queen, resulting in the Duke calling her out as a monster. Anna, the visiting Prince Hans, and the Duke follow after the queen, who escapes into the mountains, accidentally casting a powerful curse over Arendelle, putting it into an eternal winter. It begins to snow eerily throughout the land, causing the citizens to worry, though the Duke immediately becomes irrational, panicking, albeit humorously. He then suspects Anna to have powers as well, but the princess denies and explains that Elsa means no harm. The stubborn Duke finds it hard to believe, as she nearly killed him with her magic during the chase. However, to free the land from the curse, Anna volunteers to go after the queen. The Duke immediately agrees, but her fianceé, Prince Hans wasn't too fond of the idea. Nevertheless, Anna departs, and leaves Hans in charge. Taking Action Later on, back in Arendelle, things have become worse with the snow having become ice, freezing the entire kingdom, and the living conditions become unbearable for the citizens as, due to the curse overcoming the land in the middle of summer, no one is prepared for the harsh winter weather that's arrived. Hans and the royal guards are busy giving away free cloaks and other necessities for the kingdom's inhabitants who are struggling to survive, much to the Duke's dismay. The Duke scolds Hans on his actions, not wanting the prince giving away any of Arendelle's tradable goods instead of taking action against Elsa, believing Anna's merely conspiring with her to doom the land. However, the Duke is soon forced to silence himself when Hans snaps at him, threatening the Duke with his power to have him arrested for treason. Disgusting by Hans' claims, the Duke's silenced until Anna's horse returns alone. Hans feels the princess is in danger, and asks volunteers to journey to Queen Elsa's palace with him to find her. The Duke volunteers his bodyguards, and secretly orders them to eliminate Elsa should they find her so they could put an end to the winter. Back in Arendelle With Hans in charge, the bodyguards journey to Elsa's ice palace where they ignore Hans' orders to bring no harm to the queen and barge into the icy walls, immediately taking action. However, soon enough, Elsa gains the upper hands and uses her abilities to battle the duo, nearly killing them until Hans intervenes. Even so, the Snow Queen is captured and imprisoned, though the order given to the Duke's thugs either remained confidential or ignored, as the Duke wasn't seen given any punishment or word on the matter, though the thugs weren't seen again for quite some time, likely suspended as punishment for disobeying Hans' commands. Meanwhile, in the castle parlor, Hans decides he'll go back out in an attempt to find Anna, but one of the dignitaries suggests he stays behind, as he's all Arendelle has should Anna fail to return. Just then, however, she does, and desperately asks Hans to kiss her, prompting the Duke and the others to leave the room, giving them some privacy, completely unaware that the prince is actually villainous and power-hungry, planning to betray Anna to steal the throne. Moments later, Hans returns looking distraught just as the Duke declares action be taken once again. He tells them Anna was killed by Elsa, and that they said their marriage vows just before she died in his arms, thus making him king of Arendelle. The claims were lies, but the Duke and other dignitaries are oblivious to the fact, and Hans sentences Queen Elsa to death. A Fitting Comeuppance Moments later, Elsa accidentally causes a powerful blizzard to break through as she escapes her prison, and the Duke of Weselton joins the other dignitaries who rush onto the castle balcony to see what the chaos was. From there, they are able to witness Anna sacrifice herself to save Elsa from the treacherous Hans, and mourn for her death once she freezes solid doing so. Fortunately, she thaws soon enough, as well as the entire kingdom after love is revealed to be the breaker of Elsa's curse. The Duke and the dignitaries all rejoice once peace was restored. The Duke, however, is cut off from trading with Arendelle by orders of Queen Elsa, due to his earlier attempt to have her killed. The Duke tries to claim he was innocent and a victim of fear, but to no avail, and he and his thugs are sent back to Weselton, which he is heard insisting is not named "Weasel Town" after being mispronounced once again, though purposely by Kai to annoy him. Relationship with Other Characters Allies The Royal Family of Weselton It can be assumed that the Royal family was hoping that the Duke would be able to allow a freer flow of goods between the two kingdoms. They will most likely be displeased when they find out that Queen Elsa cut all ties between the two kingdoms due to the Duke's actions. His Bodyguards These two men were hired by the scheming Duke to protect and serve him at all costs. As seen by their expressions in the beginning of the film, they find his behavior odd. Whenever even the slightest oddity occurs, the Duke's cowardliness and irrational attitude will make him go into a panic, hiding behind his bodyguard brutes to protect himself. When Hans asked for volunteers to go with him to find Anna, the Duke volunteers his two men, secretly telling them to be prepared and to kill the Queen if they encounter her. When they arrive at Elsa's Ice Castle, Hans tells the company that no harm is to come to Elsa, but while Hans and the royal guards are battling the fierce Marshmallow, the two disobey Hans' orders and try to kill Elsa as the Duke ordered them, almost getting killed themselves by pushing her into an enraged state until Hans arrives to calm Elsa down. One bodyguard still tries to shoot Elsa with his crossbow, forcing Hans to intervene; the bolt to flies upward and causes the Ice chandelier to fall down. The guards were not seen after returning Elsa to Arendelle, likely suspended as punishment for disobeying Hans' commands, But the Duke was still seen afterwards so his part in Elsa's amputated assassination was probably overlooked, but it's possible he was scolded by Hans. At the end of the film the Duke and his bodyguards were sent back to Weselton with a proclamation that Arendelle will no longer do business with them. The Dignitaries Enemies Elsa the Snow Queen Originally the Duke of Weselton was polite to Elsa, even offering her a dance at the coronation, but this was all to exploit Arendelle's riches in trade. When her powers are revealed to everyone, he is the first to call her a monster and continued to believe so, even though Anna and Hans tried to reassure him that she was not and was just scared. When Hans goes off to find Anna, the Duke volunteers his henchmen and tells them that if they encounter Queen Elsa, they are to kill her, which they failed to do so. When Hans told him and the other Dignitaries (as one of his lies) that Anna had died from Elsa's magic, the Duke showed some sadness over Anna's alleged death and was the first to say that there was no doubt that Elsa was a monster and that they were all in danger. At the end of the film, Elsa cuts off all ties with Weselton due to the Duke's persecution of her. Hans Throughout the film, Hans and the Duke of Weselton were often at odds. They first interact after Elsa's icy curse has been put upon Arendelle, causing the Duke to panic and declare Elsa a monster, to which Hans disagrees with in an annoyed tone. Later on, after Hans takes control, the Duke is openly disapproving of the prince's actions, causing Hans to snap and threaten the diminutive dignitary, showing an annoyance of the pompous Duke. Hans, however, uses the Duke's irrational behavior and hatred towards Elsa's magic in his plot to steal the throne, telling him Princess Anna was killed by the Snow Queen, which immediately has the Duke declaring Elsa a threat to the kingdom, thus allowing Hans to further his plans to execute Elsa now that he had the support necessary. Anna The Duke of Weselton was polite to Anna as with her sister and even danced with her (after Elsa told him her sister dances) and asked her if she know why the castle gates were shut but she said she did not know. When Elsa's powers were revealed he was briefly hostile towards her asking if she was magic like her sister but Anna and Hans reassure him she is ordinary. Anna and Hans argue with the Duke that Elsa was not a monster but the Duke refuses to believe them. When Anna says she will go to get Elsa the Duke quickly agrees showing that at this point in time, he was not too concerned with Anna's safety. When Hans was giving out necessities to Arendelle's citizens, the Duke showed that he did not trust Anna believing that she and Elsa were conspiring to doom them all. But in the end, the Duke showed that he had began to care for Anna a little as he showed grief when Hans lied him and the other dignitaries regarding Anna's "death" at the hands of Elsa. He then said that there was no doubt that Elsa was a monster. Trivia *The Duke's voice actor, Alan Tudyk, is also known for voicing King Candy from the Disney movie, Wreck-It Ralph. *Although his hometown is pronounced as "Wessel-ton" (and "vayzel-ton" in real life if you lived in German-speaking areas), it is often mispronounced as "Weasel-town", a pet peeve of the Duke's. *While selfish, greedy, and pompous, the Duke is not actually evil, since he cared for Anna when she returned, and is very shocked when Hans told them Anna was dead. He is simply one of Hans' pawns, since he was lied to and manipulated. However, he did order his bodyguards to assassinate Elsa without Hans' knowledge, which earned him his punishment of being cut off as a trading partner of Arendelle at the end of the movie. *Originally, the character that would eventually become the Duke of Weselton was meant to be a royal handler for Anna and Elsa after the death of the their parents; their fussy caretaker. This could explain why the Duke holds common traits to Disney characters in the past portrayed as the fussy, royal stewards such as Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast and Zazu in The Lion King. *The Duke of Weselton's real name is unknown. * Most viewers would see the Duke as the main antagonist of the movie. Near the beginning of the movie, the Duke says, "Open those gates so I might exploit your riches! Did I say that out loud?" which allows the viewers to think of the Duke as the enemy. Later on, more of the Duke's bad affiliation is shown when he volunteers two of his bodyguards to kill Elsa upon seeing her. However, this is all just a cover up in order to hide Hans' true nature for the majority of the film. Gallery }} Category:Characters Category:Male Characters